Parker Cleveland. Written on Revisiting Brunswick in the Summer of 1875
Parker Cleveland. Written on Revisiting Brunswick in the Summer of 1875 - context Summary
Revisiting Brunswick, 1875
Written after Longfellow revisited Brunswick in 1875, the poem commemorates Parker Cleveland, a beloved local teacher. It presents his life as calm, complete, and rooted in the college groves, where ordinary walks and the Teacher’s chair assume dignity. The speaker fondly recalls Cleveland’s gentle example in study and instruction. Death is depicted as peaceful rest within the landscape he loved, with a final note of Christian consolation.
Read Complete AnalysesAmong the many lives that I have known, None I remember more serene and sweet, More rounded in itself and more complete, Than his, who lies beneath this funeral stone. These pines, that murmur in low monotone, These walks frequented by scholastic feet, Were all his world; but in this calm retreat For him the Teacher's chair became a throne. With fond affection memory loves to dwell On the old days, when his example made A pastime of the toil of tongue and pen; And now, amid the groves he loved so well That naught could lure him from their grateful shade, He sleeps, but wakes elsewhere, for God hath said, Amen!
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